Favorite budget tire?

[GON]

What's your thinking on using 10+ yo tires? The tire manufacturers suggest 5 to 7 years before the tires age out. Am I mistaken on that point?

Your comment about spending more for Micheline suggests, at least to me, that you feel they can be safer longer than other brands.

I'd rather drive cross country hauling a trailer with 10-year-old Michelin tires that pass a pre-use inspection than brand new no name Chinese tires.

My youngest Son's S10 had Michelin that were well over 10 years old and did just fine. I recently towed multiple trailers and the full-size truck bed loaded to the brim with weight across mountains and summer desert heat with Michelin's manufactured in the last decade with zero issues---- and full confidence.

I would pay more for used Michelins that are five years old and near full tread life than new Chinese no name tires. Below picture is my 2002 F350 with the bed loaded with thousands of pounds of tools, and the weight of a gooseneck to boot- all being supported by Michelin's manufactured in the last decade. The Michelin's towed across mountain passes and hot sunny interstate for 1600+ miles.

 

[burbguy82]

Thunderer Ranger

 

[D1dad]

Is there such a thing? I guess kumho would be considered budget and what I talked my niece into installing on her 17 Altima. They aren’t continental or Michelin but they aren’t garbage either. I don’t use cheap tires or brakes so I’m not much help.

 

[Shel_B]

I'd rather drive cross country hauling a trailer with 10-year-old Michelin tires that pass a pre-use inspection than brand new no name Chinese tires.

My youngest Son's S10 had Michelin that were well over 10 years old and did just fine. I recently towed multiple trailers and the full-size truck bed loaded to the brim with weight across mountains and summer desert heat with Michelin's manufactured in the last decade with zero issues---- and full confidence.

I don't know if I'd feel such confidence, but you've more experience than I with such matters.

I do have confidence in the Michelin brand, however. Nothing but Michelin went on Sweetie's car while I used another brand on my ride. Not a cheap/Chinese tire, though. My donuts have been comparable to Michelin wrt cost at the time of purchase, but I was looking for something M. didn't offer at the time.

 

[Silverado12]

Mastercraft.

 

[dumkid]

Thunderer Ranger

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Have you tried them? I was looking at these once upon a time.

 

[burbguy82]

Have you tried them? I was looking at these once upon a time.

I have them on a 1986 k30 Truck. It had them when I bought it.

I really like the way they look, and seem to ride pretty nice. I have been impressed with them. Understand, my truck is loud, so road noise I am not sure of, but if you buy those tires and complain about road noise...........well you get it.

All in all, I would recommend them for a budget tire.

 

[IndyIan]

I've had pretty good luck with used Michelin's. For new tires GT Radial seems to make pretty good tires at a lower price. I got a set of Ice Pro SUV3's for the Outback for $134 each for 17", and these are among the top tested tire in Consumer Reports for SUV's at the moment.
The are pretty invisible on the highway so far, but we haven't had any snow to test them out.

 

[burbguy82]

Thunderer Ranger

View attachment 251321

 

[IndyIan]

I've had pretty good luck with used Michelin's. For new tires GT Radial seems to make pretty good tires at a lower price. I got a set of Ice Pro SUV3's for the Outback for $134 each for 17", and these are among the top tested tire in Consumer Reports for SUV's at the moment.
The are pretty invisible on the highway so far, but we haven't had any snow to test them out.

Well, we've had the first couple days of snow and the wife says they are "great and grippy". So at least at 12/32 they are far better than the xice2's at ~7-8/32.

 

[hrv]

None....way to much riding on tires... I dont go cheap on tires or brakes....

 

[Bill7]

Kumho.

Kumho is the official tire of the NBA. I just bought 2 Kumho tires to replace the ones that got punctured in my Toyota Corolla after hitting a deer and had them delivered directly to the body shop. Only $59 each at Walmart. It's warranty is 60,000 miles. From the research I've done, it's a South Korean company (which is good) that was then bought by a Chinese tire company but it appears tires are still made in South Korea. It's considered a mid tier tire brand not a budget brand. Seemed to be the best brand of the "cheap tires".

This Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum KU27 tire @ $59 was about half the price of my favorite strategic tire brand "Hankook Kinergy PT (H737) All Season" (also a South Korean brand) which has a 90,000 mile warranty @ $108. Consumer Reports in their testing of tread life at their track in Texas estimated an 85,000 mile life for the Hankook Kinergy PT (H737) tires.

My primary criteria for evaluating tires is how many miles they last for.
I prefer to only buy tires made in South Korea. Tire companies in South Korea never heard of the concept of "planned obsolesence". Tire companies in North America have the ability to make tires that last 80,000 miles, but in my opinion they make them so they only last 40,000 miles so you have to buy more tires from them. I had some bad experiences with US brands such as Continental as it only lasted half of it's warrantied tire life, and Goodyear was especially bad (only lasting 1/4 of it's warrantied tire life).

 

[Bill7]

Three things I don't want to save money at the expense of quality: brake parts, vehicle fluids, and tires.

I have used ten plus year old Michelin tires that have been flawless. Spend an extra $200 USD for Michelins, and sleep well at night for the next decade.

In the 1970's and 1980's Michelins truly were the best tire. I bought a set of 4 Michelins for a 20 year old 1964 Jeep Willy Wagoneer that my aunt gave me in 1984 when I was in college. It was at a time when steel belted radials were just starting to replace bias ply and fiberglass / bias ply tires), and Michelin had a superb and well deserved reputation as being the best and safest tire at any price at that time.

But I did some research on Michelin in present day, and they have had a lot of problems with dry rot on the sidewalls that can fail state inspection and even be a safety issue, where tire can fail as you're driving. Evidentally it's due to them cheapening the rubber they use. Some Michelin tires are still top rated in Consumer reports. Michelins are still good tires, but similar to a company like Mercedes, their reputation from years ago seems to allow them to charge very high prices now.

 

[willbur]

I'd rather drive cross country hauling a trailer with 10-year-old Michelin tires that pass a pre-use inspection than brand new no name Chinese tires.

My youngest Son's S10 had Michelin that were well over 10 years old and did just fine. I recently towed multiple trailers and the full-size truck bed loaded to the brim with weight across mountains and summer desert heat with Michelin's manufactured in the last decade with zero issues---- and full confidence.

I would pay more for used Michelins that are five years old and near full tread life than new Chinese no name tires. Below picture is my 2002 F350 with the bed loaded with thousands of pounds of tools, and the weight of a gooseneck to boot- all being supported by Michelin's manufactured in the last decade. The Michelin's towed across mountain passes and hot sunny interstate for 1600+ miles.
View attachment 251311

Your experience is totally different than mine with Michelin. I will not buy them bc side walls dry rot so quickly, even in a colder northern state. But they sure do perform well as expected. Trade off